1. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
Coordinates: 33°31ƍ7ƎN 90°11ƍ2ƎW
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore
County, Mississippi,[1] located at the eastern edge of the Greenwood, Mississippi
Mississippi Delta approximately 96 miles north of — City —
Jackson, Mississippi, and 130 miles south of Memphis, Nickname(s): Cotton Capital of the World
Tennessee. The population was 15,205 at the 2010
census. It is the principal city of the Greenwood
Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Tallahatchie River
and the Yalobusha River meet at Greenwood to form
the Yazoo River.
1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics Location of Greenwood, Mississippi
4 Mississippi Blues Trail markers
Coordinates: 33°31ƍ7ƎN 90°11ƍ2ƎW
5 Government and infrastructure
5.1 Local government Country United States
5.2 State and federal representation
State Mississippi
6 Media and publishing
County Leflore
6.1 Newspapers, Magazines and Journals
6.2 Television Area
6.3 AM/FM Radio • Total 13 sq mi (33.7 km2)
7 Transportation • Land 12.4 sq mi (32.1 km2)
7.1 Railroads
• Water 0.6 sq mi (1.6 km2)
7.2 Air Transportation
7.3 Highways Elevation 131 ft (40 m)
8 Education
Population (2000)
9 Notable natives and residents
• Total 18,425
10 References
11 External links • Density 1,997.8/sq mi (771.6/km2)
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes 38930, 38935
Area code(s) 662
The flood plain of the Mississippi River has long been an FIPS code 28-29340
area rich in vegetation and wildlife, feeding off the GNIS feature ID 0670714
Mississippi and its numerous tributaries. Long before
Europeans migrated to America, the Choctaw and Website www.cityofgreenwood.org
(http://www.cityofgreenwood.org)
Chickasaw Indian nations settled in the Delta's
bottomlands and throughout what is now central
Mississippi. They were descended from indigenous peoples who had lived in the area for thousands of years.
In the nineteenth century, the Five Civilized Tribes suffered increasing encroachment on their territory by
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2. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
European-American settlers from southeastern states. Under pressure from the United States government, in
1830 the Choctaw principal chief Greenwood Leflore and other Choctaw leaders signed the Treaty of Dancing
Rabbit Creek, ceding most of their remaining land to the United States in exchange for land in what is now
southeastern Oklahoma. The government opened the land to settlement by European Americans.
The first Euro-American settlement on the banks of the Yazoo River was a trading post founded by John
Williams in 1830 and known as Williams Landing. The settlement quickly blossomed, and in 1844 was
incorporated as "Greenwood," named after Chief Greenwood Leflore. Growing in the midst of a strong cotton
market, the city's success was based on its strategic location in the heart of the Delta; on the easternmost point
of the alluvial plain and astride the Tallahatchie and the Yazoo rivers. The city served as a shipping point for
cotton to major markets in New Orleans, Louisiana, Vicksburg, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis,
Missouri. Greenwood continued to prosper, based on slave labor on the cotton plantations and in shipping, until
the latter part of the American Civil War.
The end of the Civil War in 1865 and the following years of Reconstruction changed the labor market to one of
free labor. The state was mostly undeveloped frontier, and many freedmen withdrew from working for others. In
the nineteenth century, many blacks managed to clear and buy their own farms in the bottomlands.[2] With the
disruption of war and changes to labor, cotton production initially declined, reducing the city's previously
thriving economy.
The construction of railroads through the area in the 1880s allowed the city to revitalize, with two rail lines
running to downtown Greenwood, close to the Yazoo River, and shortening transportation to markets.
Greenwood again emerged as a prime shipping point for cotton. Downtown's Front Street bordering the Yazoo
filled with cotton factors and related businesses, earning that section the name Cotton Row. The city continued
to prosper in this way well into the 1940s, although cotton production suffered during the infestation of the boll
weevil in the early twentieth century.
The industry was largely mechanized in the twentieth century before World War II. Since the late twentieth
century, some Mississippi farmers have begun to replace cotton with corn and soybeans as commodity crops,
because of the shift of the textile industry overseas, and stronger prices for those crops.[3]
Greenwood's Grand Boulevard was once named one of America's 10 most beautiful streets by the U.S.
Chambers of Commerce and the Garden Clubs of America. Sally Humphreys Gwin, a charter member of the
Greenwood Garden Club, planted the 1,000 oak trees lining Grand Boulevard. In 1950, Gwin received a citation
from the National Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution in recognition of her work in the
conservation of trees.[4][5]
In 1955, following the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the White Citizens' Council
was founded by Robert B. Patterson in Greenwood to fight against racial integration.[6] Local chapters formed
across the state, and the white-dominated legislature voted to give the Councils financial support. Having been
disfranchised since 1890, when the state passed a new constitution and related electoral and Jim Crow laws, the
black community had not been able to elect representatives since then to the state or federal legislature, and
could not protest such actions.[7] The Council paid staff to collect information on black professionals and
activists who worked for the restoration of American constitutional civil rights.
From 1962 until 1964, Greenwood was a center of protests and voter registration struggles during the Civil
Rights Movement. The SNCC, COFO, and the MFDP were all active in Greenwood. During this period,
hundreds were arrested in nonviolent protests; civil rights activists were subjected to repeated violence, and
whites used economic retaliation against African Americans who attempted to register to vote.[8] The city police
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3. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
set their police dog, Tiger, on protesters while white counter-protesters yelled "Sic 'em" from the sidewalk.[9]
When Martin Luther King visited the city later in 1963, the Ku Klux Klan distributed a flyer which read in part
(capitalization in original):
TO THOSE OF YOU NIGGERS WHO GAVE OR GIVE AID AND COMFORT TO THIS CIVIL
RIGHTS SCUM, WE ADVISE YOU THAT YOUR IDENTITIES ARE IN THE PROPER HANDS
AND YOU WILL BE REMEMBERED. WE KNOW THAT THE NIGGER OWNER OF COLLINS
SHOE SHOP ON JOHNSON STREET "ENTERTAINED" MARTIN LUTHER KING WHEN THE
"BIG NIGGER" CAME TO GREENWOOD. WE KNOW OF OTHERS AND WE SAY TO YOU
— AFTER THE SHOWING AND THE PLATE-PASSING AND STUPID STREET
DEMONSTRATIONS ARE OVER AND THE IMPORTED AGITATORS HAVE ALL GONE,
ONE THING IS SURE AND CERTAIN — YOU ARE STILL GOING TO BE NIGGERS AND WE
ARE STILL GOING TO BE WHITE MEN. YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOUR BEDS AND NOW
YOU MUST LIE IN THEM.[9]
In the mid 1960s, the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act to enforce constitutional
rights of African Americans and other minorities. For some time, voter registration and elections were monitored
by the federal government because of historic discrimination against blacks in the state. Blacks in Mississippi
have consistently voted at high rates since the passage of civil rights legislation.
On December 3, 2010, Frederick Jermaine Carter, an African-American man from Sunflower County with a y
history of mental illness, was found dead, hanging from a tree in north Greenwood. The Leflore county coroner
y f g g y
ruled the death a suicide, but the NAACP and Mississippi state senator David Jordan are concerned that foul
pp
p y y
play may have been involved. Jordan explicitly tied the black community's suspicions about the verdict to the
p y y p
state's history of racial violence against blacks. The reporter Larry Copeland for USA Today, noted that the
p
young Emmett Till had been lynched 12 miles away in 1955.[10] Jordan said, "We're not drawing any
y g y y [10]
g y
conclusions. We're skeptical, and rightfully we should be, given our history. We can't take this lightly. We just
p
[
[10]
have to wait and see."
The Help(film)
In the summer of 2010, a film adaptation of the novel The Help, the 2009 novel by American author Kathryn
Stockett, was filmed primarily in and around Greenwood, representing Jackson, Mississippi of 1963.
Other parts of The Help were shot in the historical districts of Jackson.
The film adaptation was released in 2011. Stockett's childhood friend, Tate Taylor, wrote and directed the
film.[11]
The film has been nominated for four Academy Awards at the 84th Academy Awards including the Academy
Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Actress for Viola Davis and the Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress for both Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain.
The film was also nominated for Excellence in Production Design - Period Feature Film in 2011 by the Art
Directors Guild.
Greenwood is located at 33°31ƍ7ƎN 90°11ƍ2ƎW (33.518719, -90.183883)[11]. According to the United States
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4. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.5 square miles (25 km2), of which 9.2 square miles (24 km2) is land
and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km2) is water.
As of 1998, the northern portion of Greenwood is almost all White and the southern half is mostly black.
Greenwood is 30 miles (48 km) from the nearest interstate highway.[12] It is 90 miles (140 km) north of
Jackson.[13]
As of the census[14] of 2000, there were 18,425 people, 6,916 households, and 4,523 families residing in the
city. The population density was 1,997.8 people per square mile (771.6/km²). There are 7,565 housing units at
an average density of 820.3 per square mile (316.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 32.82% White,
65.36% Black, 0.11% Native American, 0.91% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and
0.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.03% of the population.
There were 6,916 households out of which 34.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.4% are
married couples living together, 27.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were
non-families. 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who
was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.29.
In the city the population was spread out with 31.0% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25
to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For
every 100 females there were 84.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $21,867, and the median income for a family was $26,393.
Males had a median income of $27,267 versus $18,578 for females. The per capita income for the city was
$14,461. 33.9% of the population and 28.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population,
47.0% of those under the age of 18 and 20.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Radio station WGRM on Howard Street was the location of B.B. King's first live broadcast in 1940. On Sunday
nights, King performed live gospel music as part of a quartet.[15] In dedication to this event, the Mississippi
Blues Trail has placed its third historic marker in this town at the site of the former radio station.[16][17] Another
Mississippi Blues trail marker is placed near the grave of blues singer Robert Johnson. [18] There is also a Blues
Trail marker at the Elks Lodge.[19]
Local government
Greenwood is governed under the city council form of government composed of council members from seven
wards and headed by a mayor.
State and federal representation
The Delta Correctional Facility, operated by the Corrections Corporation of America on behalf of the
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5. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
Mississippi Department of Corrections, is located in Greenwood.[20][21] It is a medium-security prison, owned
by the state of Mississippi, and privately operated. As of 1998 the largest employer to have moved into the area
in that period of time was the prison. In 1998 it had 1,000 prisoners. About 950 of them were black.[12]
The United States Postal Service operates two post offices in Greenwood. They are the Greenwood Post Office
and the Leflore Post Office.[22][23]
Newspapers, Magazines and Journals
The Greenwood Commonwealth (published daily except Saturday)
Leflore Illustrated (Quarterly)
Television
WABG - ABC affiliate
WMAO-TV - PBS affiliate
AM/FM Radio
WABG, 960 AM (Blues)
WGNG, 106.3 FM (Hip-Hop/Urban Contemporary)
WGNL, 104.3 FM (Urban adult contemporary/Blues)
WGRM, 1240 AM (Gospel)
WGRM-FM, 93.9 FM (Gospel)
WKXG, 1540 AM (Silent pending transfer)
WMAO-FM, 90.9 FM (NPR Broadcasting)
WYMX, 99.1 FM (Oldies)
Railroads
Greenwood is served by two major rail lines. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to
Greenwood, connecting New Orleans to Chicago from Greenwood station.
Air Transportation
Greenwood (GWO) is served by Greenwood-Leflore Airport to the east and is located midway between
Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis, Tennessee and about halfway between Dallas, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia.
Highways
U.S. Route 82 runs through Greenwood on its way from the White Sands of New Mexico (east of Las
Cruces) east to Georgia's Atlantic coast (Brunswick, Georgia).
U.S. Route 49 passes through Greenwood as it stretches between Piggott, Arkansas south to Gulfport.
Other Greenwood highways include Mississippi Highway 7.
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6. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
Greenwood Public School District operates public schools. Greenwood High School is the sole public high
school in Greenwood. Around 1988 it was almost split evenly between black and white students. In 1998 it was
92% black.[12]
Leflore County School District operates schools outside the Greenwood city area
Pillow Academy, a private school, is located in unincorporated Leflore County, near Greenwood. It originally
was a segregation academy.[24]
"Wild" Bill Cody, Professional football player (Saints, Eagles, & Lions) Member of original 1967 Saints
Team
Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Olympian
Fred Carl, Jr., founder and CEO of Viking Range Corp.
William V. Chambers, personality psychologist
Byron De La Beckwith, white supremacist, assassinated Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers
Carlos Emmons, professional football player
Betty Everett, R&B vocalist and pianist
Alphonso Ford, professional basketball player
Webb Franklin, United States Congressman
Morgan Freeman, Oscar-winning actor
Jim Gallagher, Jr., professional golfer
Bobbie Gentry, singer/songwriter
Gerald Glass, professional basketball player
Guitar Slim, blues musician
Kent Hull, professional football player
Tom Hunley, ex-slave and the real-life Hambone in J. P. Alley's syndicated cartoon feature, Hambone's
Meditations
Jermaine Jones, soccer player for Blackburn Rovers and United States national team
Greenwood LeFlore, Principal Chief of the Choctaw
Cleo Lemon, Toronto Argonauts quarterback
Walter "Furry" Lewis, blues musician
Bernie Machen, president of University of Florida
Matt Miller, baseball pitcher
Mulgrew Miller, jazz pianist
Carrie Nye, actress
Mary Ann Pearce, first wife of novelist Mickey Spillane (who lived in Greenwood in 1945)
Fenton Robinson, blues singer and guitarist
Richard Rubin, writer and journalist
Lusia Harris, basketball player
Hubert Sumlin, blues guitarist
Donna Tartt, novelist
Tonea Stewart, actress
Willye B. White, Olympian
Paul Maholm, baseball pitcher
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7. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
1. ^ "Find a County" (http://www.naco.org/Counties /should-the-mississippi-files-have-been-re-opened-
/Pages/FindACounty.aspx) . National Association of no-because.html?pagewanted=all) ." The New York
Counties. http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages Times. August 30, 1998. Retrieved on March 25,
/FindACounty.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 2012.
2. ^ John C. Willis, Forgotten Time: The Yazoo- 13. ^ Dufresne, Marcel. "Exposing the Secrets of
Mississippi Delta after the Civil War. Mississippi Racism (http://www.ajr.org
Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2000 /article.asp?id=1311) ." American Journalism
3. ^ Krauss, Clifford. "Mississippi Farmers Trade Review. October 1991. Retrieved on March 25,
Cotton Plantings for Corn" (http://www.nytimes.com 2012.
/2009/05/06/business/06cotton.html?em) , The New 14. ^ "American FactFinder"
York Times, May 5, 2009 (http://factfinder.census.gov) . United States Census
4. ^ Delta Democrat-Times, November 26, 1956. Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com) 2008-01-31.
5. ^ Kirkpatrick, Mario Carter. Mississippi Off the 15. ^ Cloues, Kacey. "Great Southern Getaways -
Beaten Path (http://books.google.com Mississippi" (http://web.archive.org
/books?id=ftJm0hwGAGEC&pg=PA87& /web/20080625011127/http:
lpg=PA87& //www.atlantamagazine.com/uploadedFiles/Atlanta
dq=%22ten+most+beautiful+streets%22& /Travel/November07+Travel.pdf) .
source=bl&ots=jQ4q7RfFuK&sig=gHCc9TWjro3- www.atlantamagazine.com. Archived from the
IoRyD1ShDgwHPhE&hl=en& original (http://www.atlantamagazine.com
ei=wCTZSda8PNfVlQfsw4G9DA& /uploadedFiles/Atlanta/Travel
sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3) . GPP /November07%20Travel.pdf) on 2008-06-25.
Travel, 2007 http://web.archive.org/web/20080625011127/http:
6. ^ "White Citizens' Councils aimed to maintain //www.atlantamagazine.com/uploadedFiles/Atlanta
'Southern way of life'" (http://orig.jacksonsun.com /Travel/November07+Travel.pdf. Retrieved
/civilrights/sec2_citizencouncil.shtml) . Jackson Sun. 2008-05-31.
http://orig.jacksonsun.com/civilrights 16. ^ "Historical marker placed on Mississippi Blues
/sec2_citizencouncil.shtml. Trail" (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07025
7. ^ Stephen Edward Cresswell, Rednecks, Redeemers /756420-37.stm) . Associated Press. January 25,
and Race: Mississippi after Reconstruction, Jackson: 2007. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07025
University Press of Mississippi, 2006, p. 124 /756420-37.stm. Retrieved 2007-02-09.
8. ^ Mississippi Voter Registration — Greenwood 17. ^ "Film crew chronicles blues markers"
(http://www.crmvet.org (http://www.myvelodrome.org
/tim/timhis62.htm#1962greenwood) ~ Civil Rights /NMI/Greenwood_Commonwealth_11.14.pdf)
Movement Veterans (PDF). The Greenwood Commonwealth.
9. ^ a b Hendrickson, Paul (2003). Sons of Mississippi. http://www.myvelodrome.org
New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40461-9. /NMI/Greenwood_Commonwealth_11.14.pdf.
10. ^ a b Larry Copeland (6 December 2010). "NAACP Retrieved 2008-09-30.
contests suicide as cause of hanged man's death" 18. ^ Widen, Larry. "JS Online: Blues trail"
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-12-06- (http://web.archive.org/web/20071215034624/http:
suicide-mississippi_N.htm) . USA Today. //www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=347773) .
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-12-06- www.jsonline.com. Archived from the original
suicide-mississippi_N.htm. Retrieved 19 August (http://www.jsonline.com/story
2011. /index.aspx?id=347773) on 2007-12-15.
11. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990" http://web.archive.org/web/20071215034624/http:
(http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer //www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=347773.
/gazette.html) . United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
2011-02-12. http://www.census.gov/geo/www 19. ^ "Mississippi Blues Commission - Blues Trail"
/gazetteer/gazette.html. Retrieved 2011-04-23. (http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues_trail/) .
12. ^ a b c Rubin, Richard. "Should the Mississippi Files www.msbluestrail.org. http://www.msbluestrail.org
Have Been Re-opened? No, because /blues_trail/. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
(http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/30/magazine 20. ^ "Private Prisons (http://www.mdoc.state.ms.us
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8. Greenwood, Mississippi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Mississippi
/Five%20Private%20Prisons.htm) ." Mississippi 23. ^ "Post Office Location - LEFLORE
Department of Corrections. Retrieved on August 12, (http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office
2010. /leflore-600-yalobusha-st-greenwood-ms-1370142) ."
21. ^ "Ward Map (http://www.cityofgreenwood.org United States Postal Service. Retrieved on August
/pdfs/greenwood_ward_map1.pdf) ." City of 12, 2010.
Greenwood. Retrieved on August 12, 2010. 24. ^ Lynch, Adam (18 November 2009). "Ceara’s
22. ^ "Post Office Location - GREENWOOD Season" (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php
(http://usps.whitepages.com/service/post_office /site/comments/cearas_season_111809/) . Jackson
/greenwood-200-e-washington-st-rm-100-greenwood- Free Press. http://www.jacksonfreepress.com
ms-1365698) ." United States Postal Service. /index.php/site/comments/cearas_season_111809/.
Retrieved on August 12, 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
City of Greenwood (http://www.cityofgreenwood.org/)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greenwood,_Mississippi&oldid=483955485"
Categories: Cities in Mississippi County seats in Mississippi Greenwood, Mississippi micropolitan area
Populated places in Leflore County, Mississippi Mississippi Blues Trail
Populated places in Mississippi with African American majority populations
Populated places established in 1830
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